The arrival of the thangors created some mild tension within the blacklanders. Such was quickly dispelled with offers of celebration and, more importantly, some quality ale. Grimbar Ironliver of the ogres was first to respond to the offer. “I would love to discuss the finer points of coöperation going forward, but I somewhat doubt any of you would be able to handle a true ogre brew!.” The ogre spoke with a subtly joking tone. It was the most expression one could expect from an ogre. Stepping in quickly to avoid misunderstandings, an orc quickly followed up with a more expressive “Of course, from what we hear, you thangors are made of iron. So I would give it a 50/50 chance you’ll power through.” His tone was light-hearted and joking. It was obvious he meant to respond positively to the thangor’s offer.

Luckily, things proceeded somewhat smoothly from there, and the delegation quickly arrived at the festival.

-ONE GOOD EVENING OF CELEBRATION LATER-
The blacklanders had made camp near the festival site. Things had gone smoothly apart from an incident involving a goblin almost drowning in a barrel of ale. The five delegation leaders were sat around each other in the center of the camp. Again, the lizardfolk leader spoke first. “So, we’ve met with our future allies… My friends, would you say these people have need of our guidance and protection?”

Yarreek was the first to respond, the kobold had been asking around about the topography of the land and had spent most of the evening scribbling up a map of the kashar territories. “From what I know right now, there is most likely more than enough metal in the soil here to bring them past their current reliance on crude stone tools… But didn’t the thangors already offer to help them set up?”

Bleda cut off any responses with a loud laugh. “The thangors are humans… DO you really think they’ll leave the kasharites alone? No, we need to stay here to keep things in check. We’ll act commital to the thangors and use them as useful idiots until such a time as where they’ve outlived their usefullness.”

There was a muted gasp from one of the other leaders. Bleda’s suggestion of using the thangors as puppets was a clear violation of the black book’s teachings on the matter. “Orc… The book says all are equal.” The ogre chief said.

“And you think humans will respect us back? Chief, was it not your brother who was harassed and murdered by a marauding band of human bandits?” Bleda knew his companions well. The incident referred to had been a common occurence in the days before the alliance. Caused by the ogres calm demeanours causing misunderstandings and likely common greed from humans. None ever dared retaliate for such transgressions, for it was a well-known wisdom that humans come back in force, uncaring of whether you acted in righteous self-defence. The ogre was silent, as was everyone else.

“It is decided then, we will become the guiding hand that brings this nation into the modern age, and we will be the shield that protects it from those that would oppurtunistically plunder it. Yarreek, get a scribe to write up a first draft. We bring our proposal before the queen at sunrise.”

And so the blackland delegation dedicated itself to an alliance of good intention.[@Lauder][@POOHEAD189]